Oh, and one other thing: I'm on a mission to wipe out EBV-associated blood cancers in memory of my brother-in-law, Matt Cwiertny. Matt passed away on October 3, 2009 at the age of 24 -- way too young. My family and I want to make sure other families and patients do not have to endure the nightmare that is battling a blood cancer... and we've been doing that by raising funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and kicking some blood cancer butt. One of my family's projects just ended at the end of 2010 (Raising $60K to Kick Blood Cancer Butt for Matt), and we're thrilled to say that we had our biggest year yet -- over $37,000 raised in only 6 months! Therefore, with the combined efforts of our friends at the Dear Jack Foundation and Team Jack's Mannequin/Dear Jack, we raised over $120,000 nationally and our goal of a LLS research grant was reached!! Thank you, everyone, for all of your support! This also means that over the past 3 years, our own team (Matt) has raised over $87,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Very cool.

Now, here we go... The Matt Cwiertny Memorial Foundation is active and just held its first official fundraising event! Our benefit concert on May 7th at The Echo featured our good friends The 88, who were joined by Taylor Locke & The Roughs, and raised well over $3,100 that night! All the proceeds from the concert and silent auction help the MCMF raise funds needed to fight the Epstein-Barr Virus and EBV-associated diseases, including blood cancers.

But not only is the MCMF raising funds for research grants... The Foundation is also providing programs to enhance the quality of life for adolescent and young adult cancer patients! We're thrilled to announce our new quality of life outreach program, Matt's Mixed Tape. Beginning February 2013, the MCMF will commence gifting iPod Nanos that are pre-loaded with music generously donated by caring artists to teen and young adult (TYA) cancer patients (ages 13-25) at the UCLA Daltrey/ Townshend Teen and Young Adult Cancer Program. Please head over to the Matt's Mixed Tape project page and participate by making a donation. Let's give the gift of music to TYA cancer patients.

So that's the story. Wanna join the good fight? Hey, you can even think of yourself as a superhero (And I'll even have everyone believing you are one, too! Because you'll be a superhero to me and to my family).

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Michele and Eric Cwiertny's Fundraisers

Amount Raised:

$9,144

Amount Raised:

$18,034

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